Halting ACA cost-sharing reductions
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EnglishVoice Age
Middle Aged (35-54)Accents
North American (General) North American (US General American - GenAM)Transcript
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President Trump just cut off what he calls massive payments to insurance companies. So what does that mean? Well, most people pay for health care in two ways. Through premiums paid each month and through out of pocket costs when they go to the doctor. If you have a low income, the A C A provides subsidies to lower both costs. It gives you a tax credit to lower your premium payments, and it pays your insurer a cost sharing reduction to cut your costs when you see a doctor. So what's the big controversy? Well, the Supreme Court ruled that the tax credits are illegal. But some Republicans say Congress never approved money to pay insurers for the cost sharing reductions. President Trump calls those payments a bailout, and now he's decided to cut them off. Some states will suit to keep the payments going, but if Trump's decision holds, ensures would still have to lower out of pocket costs for low income people. That's the law. They just wouldn't get any help from the government to do it. Insurers could lose billions of dollars, and premiums could go way up by 27% in some states that could destabilize the exchange market, and insurers had already been raising rates just in case. For now, the future remains uncertain. Exactly how insurers, courts and Congress will respond to Trump's decision remains an open question.